Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA is on the warpath after opposition parties in the Stellenbosch Local Municipality opposed a 2022/2023 adjustment budget proposal to accept nearly R6.2 million allocated to an Emergency Municipal Load Shedding Relief Grant.
The adjustment budget was tabled on Wednesday during a municipality council sitting.
The funds were part of an additional Emergency Municipal Load Shedding Relief Grant allocation of R6 175 000 from the Western Cape government.
The Patriotic Alliance (PA), GOOD and EFF all opposed the proposal but, despite their objection, the DA majority in the council voted in favour of the grant.
Explaining their stance, Christie Noble, a GOOD party councillor, said while they support measures to alleviate the ongoing load shedding that is devastating communities, they believe this specific council item was not brought in to serve that purpose.
“Additional funding would be welcome support for the municipality during this difficult time. However, we can’t simply accept vague proposals from the DA government when it could not, or would not, provide the necessary details or commitment to exactly which communities would benefit from this, and which ones would be left behind,” he said.
Noble added that the proposal was put forward as funds for buying backup generators for water and waste treatment plants without a proper breakdown of the allocation or the cost of each generator.
He stressed:
EFF Stellenbosch councillor Zola Ndalasi said: “The EFF opposed the budget because the people of Stellenbosch will not be benefiting from it. Especially those sleeping in shacks and sleeping on the streets. We have a clinic shortage in Kayamandi, it’s only rich people benefitting from these funds. We cannot support a budget like that, and the budget was not clear.”
The PA’s John Andrews said opposition parties asked specific questions about a cost calculation of the supporting generators, at which water and sewage treatment plants generators would be installed, and which water and wastewater treatment plants would receive priority attention.
“The DA’s presentation in terms of the conditions according to which the donation [grant] was awarded could not convince the opposition parties how the project implementation could be applied successfully.
“There is a significant difference between load shedding for basic services infrastructure and that for taxpayers and residential properties,” Andrews said.
According to a report by Stellenbosch Mayor Gesie van Deventer regarding the adjustment budget, the increased frequency of stages 4 to 6 load shedding was having a major impact on several municipalities’ ability to provide basic services effectively.
Prolonged periods of load shedding have caused significant interruptions in the supply of potable water and sanitation services to citizens in various municipalities.
“Premised on the impact of load shedding and the forecasted increased frequency and severity of load shedding, with Stage 4 expected to be the norm in 2023, urgent intervention is required,” she wrote.
Van Deventer added that the most critical emergency initiative to mitigate this impact was the acquisition of backup generators at key water and wastewater infrastructure installations, which would assist in preventing interruptions or a collapse in basic services. The Emergency Municipal Load Shedding Relief Grant would be used to buy generators to combat the impact of load shedding.
The DA’s constituency head for Stellenbosch, Leon Schreiber, said the PA, EFF and GOOD “shockingly voted in favour of more suffering under load shedding” in the community.
“The despicable behaviour of these small parties confirms that it is critical for voters to support the DA if they want to mitigate the impact of load shedding and keep corruption out,” he claimed.
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